What occurs when exercise begins and the intake of oxygen doesnt immediately meet the demands?

By cooling down and exercising at a low intensity (jogging etc) then more oxygen is getting taken in to the muscles. This means creatine phosphate stores will replenish at a faster rate. The more oxygen that is present then the quicker the body can remove lactic acid and turn it back into energy and re-saturate the myoglobin stores

b. Eating a high carbohydrate meal within 30 mins post exercise

The optimum time for the body to take up carbohydrate is within 30 minutes of finishing exercise. By eating High Glycaemic Index carbohydrate (carbohydrate that release energy quickly e.g. sugary foods) and Low Glycaemic Index (Carbohydrate that release energy at a slower rate e.g. fruit, wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta and rice) Then the body is able to begin restore the glycogen used over exercise period. (See nutrition)

c. Recovery supplements

The use of recovery supplements is widely used in sport for recovery purposes. They often contain a mix of carbohydrate (to re-supply the glycogen stores), protein and amino acids, (for growth and repair of the muscle) and creatine (Help restore CP stores)

d. Ice baths

The theory behind ice baths is that when we exercise at a high intensity small micro-tears occur in the muscles. Some research believes that it is these micro-tears that cause Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS) or at least the swelling that takes place around the micro-tears. It is believed that Ice Baths reduce the swelling around the muscle micro-tears and reduce the pain that they cause, this means that the performer is able to train at a higher level the next day. It must be noted that research on this is not conclusive.

e. Massage

Massage can serve two purposes; the first is psychological benefits e.g. relaxing feeling of the massage and the fact that it can be invigorating, (providing it is not a deep muscle massage).

Secondly it can help physically by returning de-oxygenated blood from the muscle tissue to the heart to be re-oxygenated.

f. Compression Clothing

Recent studies have concluded that compression clothing can help recovery by maximising the pumping action of the muscles in returning blood to the heart and help with subsequent removal of lactic acid and blood lactate.

There must be an understanding in the difference between alactic and lactacid oxygen debt and specifically what each system repays/removes. The candidate must also be able to provide specific examples of how the methods to speed up recovery and why each are used.

EXample 1 Cool down keeps oxygen levels elevated and therefore this means that more lactic acid can be removed (speeds up lactacid recovery) and then converted back into glucose/glycogen. Also the cool down can speed up the re-saturation of myoglobin.

Example 2 A high carbohydrate meal including protein can help restore muscle glycogen and blood glucose levels. The optimum time for uptake of glycogen into muscles is within 30mins of ceasing exercise. Protein can help repair damaged muscle tissue and help re-growth. (See nutrition/hydration section for more details of optimising recovery)

1. Explain the terms alactic and lactacid oxygen debt and describe the strategies you have used to speed up these recovery processes. (6)

2. High anaerobic capacity is essential to any team gamer player. Outline the physiological processes that will happen during a 5-minute recovery period after intense anaerobic exercise (5)

3. Cool down is an essential aspect of the recovery process. Provide an example of an appropriate cool down for your sporting activity and explain the physiological benefits to the performer. (5)

Quick Check

• EPOC is the repaying of energy after anaerobic exercise
• There are two components of oxygen debt. Alactic and Lactacid.
• Alactic replenishes the CP stores (takes approx 4 mins to replenish 97% of the CP)
• Lactacid primarily replenishes the stored glycogen and removes lactic acid
• Higher levels of aerobic fitness can result in quicker repayment of oxygen debt
• There are a number of methods to speed up the recovery process including: - cool down, ice baths, correct nutrition and hydration, compression clothing and massage.

It’s Friday night and you’ve got a choice. Before you meet up with your friends, do you do fit in a TurboFire workout or take the dog for a leisurely run?

You know your buddy would love the extra attention, but taking the slow-and-steady route feels a little like cheating. When you push through a fast and furious HIIT workout you can really feel the burn. All the sweating and heavy breathing must mean it’s a better workout, right?

Not necessarily. The difference between high intensity interval training and a brisk jog is a matter of anaerobic vs. aerobic exercise. Your body can benefit from both, but the one on which you should focus depends on your goals.

Anaerobic vs. Aerobic Exercise: What’s the Difference?

The textbook distinction between aerobic and anaerobic exercise is whether or not oxygen is used to produce the energy required for the effort. “During aerobic exercise, the body relies primarily on oxygen to produce energy,” says Beachbody Senior Fitness and Nutrition Content Manger Trevor Thieme, C.S.C.S. “During anaerobic exercise, it doesn’t.”

In practical terms, whether or not an exercise is aerobic or anaerobic hinges on its duration and intensity. According to kinesiologist Frances Lee Smith, M.S., PN1, anaerobic exercises “can only be done in repeated, short bursts, and requires a decent amount of recovery [between them].” To work at this level you’ll go hard for each burst of activity, working at a pace you can maintain for up to two minutes. Examples of anaerobic exercise include HIIT, plyometric exercises, and weightlifting. Most programs on Beachbody on Demand can be classified as primarily anaerobic.

Aerobic exercises, meanwhile, are generally performed “at a low or moderate pace for an extended period of time,” says Smith. In practice, that usually includes activities lasting longer than two to three minutes, and generally encompasses what trainers refer to as low-intensity exercise and steady-state cardio. Examples include walking, cycling, and long distance running.

To be clear, the body never relies exclusively on aerobic or anaerobic energy production. “It uses three different systems to produce energy — two are anaerobic, and one is aerobic — and they’re all in operation all of the time, regardless of whether you’re walking your dog, swimming laps, performing intervals on a track, or pumping iron,” says Thieme, adding that all three also shift into a higher gear when you begin to exercise. “But the intensity and duration of each bout of effort determines which system is emphasized.”

When you begin to exercise, your body can’t immediately meet your energy needs with its current supply of available oxygen, so it uses anaerobic respiration (also called “anaerobic metabolism”), to make up the shortfall, which known as the “oxygen deficit.”

If you’re doing repeated bouts of short-duration work (sprint intervals, squats, curls, etc.) anaerobic respiration remains your primary method of energy production. The reason is that its production speed is very fast — indeed much faster than aerobic respiration — allowing it to meet the immediate, high demand for energy from your muscles. But if your exercise bout lasts longer than two or three minutes, aerobic metabolism (which has a greater production capacity but slower production speed ) has time to get up to speed, and it takes over.

Here’s an overview of how the three energy systems (phosphagen, glycolytic, and oxidative) come into play during exercise.

Energy System Use by Exercise Intensity and Duration

Intensity	Duration	Energy System Used
Extremely high	0–6 seconds	Phosphagen (Anaerobic)
Very high	6–30 seconds	Phosphagen and Glycolitic (Anaerobic)
High	30 seconds to 2 minutes	Glycolytic (Anaerobic)
Moderate	2–3 minutes	Glycolytic and Oxidative (Aerobic)
Low	3 minutes +	Oxidative (Aerobic)

Anaerobic vs. Aerobic Exercise: Which Is Better for Your Goals?

“I would recommend a mix of everything,” says Smith. “It’s important to tax the heart and the body in different ways,” she says. That means a balanced exercise program for general fitness should include both anaerobic and aerobic activities, as they tend to build different skills and produce different results. Anaerobic exercises typically enhance muscle strength, power, and size, as well as overall speed. Aerobic exercises typically help build endurance and have a greater affect on cardiovascular health.

Even if you’re focused on goals that are aerobic in nature, like running a half-marathon, doing anaerobic exercise can help you perform better. Strength training, for instance, can help runners improve their speed, economy, power output, time to exhaustion, and potentially even VO2 max — not to mention decrease their risk of injury. If your primary focus is strength training, meanwhile, performing light aerobic exercise between workouts can help optimize your recovery.

If your goal is weight loss, however, the exercise type that science recommends might surprise you: Anaerobic. “Studies show that anaerobic exercise typically produces greater fat loss than aerobic exercise, and that’s largely because it keeps your metabolism elevated for longer after you work out,” says Thieme.

That idea bucks popular (non-science based) wisdom, which holds that slow and steady exercise wins the fat loss race. But if you think back to the idea of creating an oxygen deficit, it begins to make sense. When you perform anaerobic exercise, you never make up that initial oxygen deficit by switching over to aerobic metabolism, as you would during, say, a distance run. In fact, your oxygen deficit compounds, ultimately becoming an oxygen debt. The process of repaying that debt keeps your body’s metabolism elevated for hours (or even days, according to some studies) after you stop working out.

The white coats call this phenomenon excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. You might know it as the “afterburn effect.” Either way, the bottom line is this: Aerobic exercise might burn more calories during a workout simply because such workouts tend to last longer, but anaerobic exercise typically burns more calories overall, because it keeps your metabolism elevated for much longer after you’re done.

How to Use the Talk Test to Tell Whether Your Workout Is Aerobic or Anaerobic

To be clear, a heart rate monitor is the most accurate way to determine if you’re exercising in the anaerobic or aerobic zone. “Once you push past 80 percent of your maximum heart rate, you’re anaerobic,” says Thieme.

If you don’t own or have access to a heart rate monitor, try the talk test. “If you find it difficult to speak even in short sentences, or if you would rate your exertion 15 or higher on a scale of 20, you’re exercising anaerobically,” says Thieme. If you can carry on a conversation, you’re working aerobically.

In practice, that might mean dialing back your pace if you find it difficult to speak during a nine-mile run, or going a little harder if you’re able to talk politics with your buddy during a FOCUS T25 workout. But don’t forget that, as always, your fitness level is a key factor. Smith says, “If you’re new to fitness, jumping right into a series of 40-yard sprints isn’t advised. But doing a 20-minute jog might be doable.”

Your goal is to walk the line between pushing yourself hard enough to optimize your progress and pushing yourself so hard that end up sidelined by overtraining. “The talk test will help keep you on track,” says Thieme.